Minecraft in C++

⚠️ Work in progress — under active development.

A Minecraft-inspired voxel engine written in C++ using Vulkan. Built from scratch as a learning project, focusing on modern graphics programming and game engine architecture.

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Features

• Vulkan renderer — modern GPU API with validation layers, depth buffering, and dual solid/wireframe pipelines
• Infinite world — procedurally generated terrain using fractal noise, loads and unloads chunks as you move
• Multithreaded chunk loading — world generation and mesh building run on background threads, GPU uploads happen on the main thread
• Face culling — only visible block faces are rendered, no wasted geometry
• Block types — Bedrock, Stone, Dirt, and Grass with per-face color shading
• Free-fly camera — WASD movement, mouse look, Space/Ctrl for vertical movement
• Wireframe mode — toggle with E
• Cross-platform — Windows, Linux (x86_64 + ARM64), and macOS (Apple Silicon)

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Controls

Key	Action
W A S D	Move
Mouse	Look
Space	Move up
Left Ctrl	Move down
E	Toggle wireframe
Escape	Quit

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Building

Prerequisites

• CMake 3.20+
• Vulkan SDK — download from LunarG
• A C++17 compiler (MSVC, GCC, Clang)

On macOS, install MoltenVK and shaderc via Homebrew:

brew install vulkan-headers molten-vk shaderc

On Linux:

sudo apt-get install libvulkan-dev vulkan-tools glslc \
  libx11-dev libxrandr-dev libxinerama-dev libxcursor-dev libxi-dev

Clone and build

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/Majitelll/minecraft-in-cpp.git
cd minecraft-in-cpp
cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build

On macOS, pass the Vulkan paths explicitly:

cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
  -DVulkan_INCLUDE_DIR=$(brew --prefix vulkan-headers)/include \
  -DVulkan_LIBRARY=$(brew --prefix molten-vk)/lib/libMoltenVK.dylib \
  -DGLSLC=$(brew --prefix shaderc)/bin/glslc

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Project Structure

src/
  main.cpp          — entry point
  app.h / app.cpp   — Vulkan application (instance, swapchain, pipelines, render loop)
  camera.h/.cpp     — camera state and input handling
  chunk.h/.cpp      — block data, procedural generation, mesh building
  chunkmanager.h/.cpp — chunk lifecycle, load/unload, thread coordination
  threadpool.h      — fixed-size thread pool
  shaders/
    vert.vert       — vertex shader
    frag.frag       — fragment shader

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Dependencies

All dependencies are included as git submodules — no manual installation needed on Windows/Linux.

• GLFW — window and input (same library used by Minecraft via LWJGL)
• cglm — C math library for vectors and matrices
• Vulkan SDK — system installed

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Releases

Pre-built binaries for Windows, Linux x86_64, Linux ARM64, and macOS Apple Silicon are available on the Releases page.